Abstract

Purpose Sprints and accelerations are popular performance indicators in applied sport. The methods used to define these efforts using athlete tracking technology could affect the number of efforts reported. The study aimed to determine the influence of different techniques and settings for detecting high-intensity efforts using Global Positioning System (GPS) data. Methods Velocity and acceleration data of a professional soccer match was recorded via 10-Hz GPS. Velocity data was filtered using either a median or exponential filter. Acceleration data was derived from velocity data over a 0.2 s time interval (with and without an exponential filter applied) and a 0.3 s time interval. High-speed running (≥4.17 m.s-1), sprint (≥7.00 m.s-1) and acceleration (≥2.78 m.s-2) efforts were then identified using minimum effort durations (0.1 to 0.9 s) to assess differences in the total number of efforts reported. Results Different velocity filtering methods resulted in small to moderate differences (Effect Size; 0.28 - 1.09) in the number of high-speed running and sprint efforts detected when minimum duration was <0.5 s and small to very large differences (ES; -5.69 - 0.26) in the number of accelerations when minimum duration was <0.7 s. There was an exponential decline in the number of all efforts as minimum duration increased, regardless of filtering method, with the largest declines in acceleration efforts. Conclusions Filtering techniques and minimum durations substantially affect the number of high-speed running, sprint and acceleration efforts detected with GPS. Changes to how high-intensity efforts are defined affect reported data. Therefore, consistency in data processing is advised.